Facts About Flying Fish – Exocoetidae

We are all familiar with the birds who dive as comfortable as they fly, but there is only one family of fish that made the reverse journey.

Flying Fish (Exocoetidae), is a resident of the ocean, mainly in areas where the prevailing warm tropical and subtropical climate. Their most striking feature and characteristic of is pectoral fins, which is unusually large, so to allow it to rise from the water and flew several meters above the surface, and thus to escape from enemies.

Do flying fish actually fly? Strictly speaking though, flying fish don’t really fly. They use their fins to help them glide through the air. They don’t flap them like wings.

The fish developed this technique to help them escape predators in the water, but they can’t remain airborne for long as they need to return to the water to breathe. Read here about Real Sea Monsters!

Staying airborne – When it falls back towards the surface, it can beat its tail in the water to begin another glide.

Gliding– By spreading its fins, the fish can glide through the air for up to 200 metres (655 feet) at a time.

Tail technique– The fish begins rapidly beating its tail, which is still underwater, to gain thrust.

Streamlined body – When swimming, the fish folds its fins against its body to make it more streamlined and gain speed.

Speedy swimming – The fish begins by swimming really fast underwater. They can reach speeds of over 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour.

Lift off – By angling its body upwards, the fish breaks through the surface of the water to reach heights of up to six metres (20 feet).

Surfing– Flying fish can use waves to “surf” the even 400 meters (1300 feet), moving with speeds exceeding 80 miles per hour (47 miles).

Fossil – The oldest known fossil of fish that had the ability to fly dating from the Middle Triassic period 240 million years ago.

Airplane models – In the period 1900-1930 the body shape of this fish is studied for the development of a large number of airplane models.